This is going to be a Voja, Jaws of the Conclave primer. For those of you who don't know what a primer is, its a very in depth explanation/discussion of the decklist, the choices that went into it and other thought processes. For a few examples, see Faster Than Tron? Really? or The Island Awakened [[Primer]]
Alright, let's start off with the obvious. As of right now, 1/21/2024, Murders of Karlov Manor has not yet been released, so I don't have a copy of Voja yet. So once I get this deck fully put together and start playing with it I'll be evaluating each of the cards and making changes as needed.
Now, onto the deck.
Voja, Jaws of the Conclave obvious cares about both elves and wolves, with elves giving the deck combat prowess, mana ramp and +1/+1 counter synergies and the wolves give more token synergies and a significant amount of card draw and card advantage.
Elves: 26
Wolves: 10
Elf tokens: 4
Wolf token: 11
Averaging out the actual creatures as well as the tokens it comes out to 28 elves to 22 wolves. As a side note, this is including Shapeshifters like Realmwalker or Roaming Throne even though Realmwalker is more likely to be an elf on ETB due to the higher number of elves in the deck vs Roaming Throne will almost always be a wolf in order to double Voja, Jaws of the Conclave's attack trigger.
So, we have more elves in this deck than we do wolves, but more ways to make wolf tokens then elf tokens. Why? It's fairly simple and its just the quality of the creature types imo. Elves have been a staple in Magic forever and get new cards almost every set, whereas wolves are much more often left by the wayside, showing up on Innistrad but not often on other planes. So, if that's the case, then elves are going to make up a larger part of our 32 creatures while wolves often have abilities that create a wolf token combined with other effects- see Silverfur Partisan and Hollowhenge Overlord just to name 2.
Now, let's get into the deck itself.
Running 33 lands is rather low for most EDH decks ill build, so lets start with the mana dorks and mana accelerants that allow that to be possible. You of course have your basic field of mana dorks, Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves and Elvish Mystic to name a few, but you also have mana production based on how many creatures you have. Going wide with both elves and wolf tokens makes creatures like Circle of Dreams Druid and Elvish Archdruid/Priest of Titania able to produce a steep amount of mana. For rocks we have Sol Ring and Arcane Signet of course, but we also run Thought Vessel as we will be drawing so many cards and The Great Henge as we can often get it down for 2 mana and it is a good +1/+1 synergy piece along with being a fantastic card.
As a deck with the potential to be incredibly explosive while also being able to be blown out, stuffing the list with as much card draw as we can is extremely important. Because of this, for stable draws we run cards like Guardian Project, Beast Whisperer and tolovar dire overlord as well as other draw 1 offs that are less consistent but much more explosive such as Rishkar's Expertise, Shamanic Revelation and Armorcraft Judge. Tribute to the World Tree and The Great Henge also split their effects between +1/+1 counter synergies and card draw.
Because not all wolf cards are really all that good in EDH, we have also stuffed the deck full with several token synergies in order to make as many wolf tokens as we can. Master of the Wild Hunt, Wolfcaller's Howl and Hollowhenge Overlord all make wolf tokens at the beginning up upkeep, while Primal Adversary turns out lands into wolves for more card draw. While Doubling Season is the only card that directly cares about tokens, many of the other payoffs in the deck simply care about creatures, not just nontoken creatures. Halo Fountain, Cathars' Crusade, Tribute to the World Tree giving us card draw, +1/+1 counter synergy and an alternative wincon.
There are a lot more +1/+1 counter payoffs in the deck then token payoffs as I believe that putting more +1/+1 counters on creatures you control is more important than making more tokens in this list. Devoted Druid, while not going infinite like it often can, can produce just as much mana as Circle of Dreams Druid or Elvish Archdruid if you get one or two attacks off. Evolution Sage helps proliferate the counters on your creatures and while there aren't any land loops or anything, that consistent proliferation good to help overwhelm your opponents. The Ozolith stores those +1/+1 counters for a kill shot at any given opportunity with any creature that you can give trample. With the amount of token we are making, Cathars' Crusade will quickly grow our board out of control and Court of Garenbrig giving us counters regardless of whether or not we are the monarch is incredibly useful. And, of course, Damning Verdict often being a one sided board wipe will end games on it's own.
Quickly going over the protection in the deck, cards like Rootborn Defenses and Inspiring Call pull double duty protecting our board and populating or drawing us cards respectively. Heroic Intervention is just a fantastic card and Boros Charm is a great modal card that comes with both removal and protection. Werefox Bodyguard makes for a good instant speed bit interaction that we can use to either protect our own creatures or remove our opponent's creatures.
Turntimber Ranger offers an alternative wincon in the form of an infinite combo along wtih Maskwood Nexus, which fits even better into the deck as both the cards work well separate from one another.
Now, onto the various cards that offer different niche effects that synergize with the deck or various toolbox effects that the deck is otherwise lacking.
Cemetery Prowler gives the deck a niche GY hate option while reducing the cost of your own spells while also being a wolf
Delina, Wild Mage has been slotted in because the tokens she makes are NON legendary. This means that you can get two or more Voja, Jaws of the Conclave triggers in a single combat phase or target something else like Primal Adversary to make a lot of wolf tokens very quickly or Imperious Perfect to make a small army of elf lords for that combat.
Imperious Perfect is an elf lord that you can use to make elf tokens whenever you need them, either at the end step before your turn or before combat to make more +1/+1 counters
Leaf-Crowned Visionary gives you card draw when you need that so much.
Masked Vandal counts as both an elf and a wolf and let's you do double duty, removing an important creature from a graveyard and hitting an artifact or enchantment
Master of the Wild Hunt gives us wolf tokens at every upkeep yes, but it also gives us repeated removal, which is very important for a deck that is majority green.
Moon-Blessed Cleric helps grab any 1 of the 11 incredibly important enchantments we run in the deck.
Primal Adversary is a mana sink in the late game that gives us both more wolves and creatures that already have +1/+1 counters on them. It is however, at risk to being blown out by a boardwipe.
Pyreheart Wolf essentially gives each of our creatures menace, making combat a nightmare for our opponents as we probably have more creatures than they do
Realmwalker is both a wolf and an elf that lets us cast creatures off the top of our library. You'll probably want to choose elves as we have significantly more elves than wolves in the deck.
Rishkar, Peema Renegade essentially gives all of your creatures the ability to tap for mana making for a point of no return of sorts. That, combined with a few pieces of card draw means you can churn through a large part of your deck each turn.
Roaming Throne will almost always come down as a wolf in order to double the number of Voja, Jaws of the Conclave attack triggers you get
Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer is equally a mana sink and a tutor that puts a creature right onto the battlefield, being able to grab whatever creature you need at the time.
Silverfur Partisan offers a sort of pseudo protection, giving you wolf tokens any time you opponents try to interact with your board
Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves gives you both an elf and a wolf as well as giving you some life gain and the ability to fight, which can add up as you make more and more wolf tokens.
We really only care about Tovolar, Dire Overlord
for his static card draw ability, though I supposed on the flipside you can use the mana sink to end games.
Wolf-Skull Shaman has the possibility to produce multiple wolf tokens over the span of a game and we can choose not to reveal it if the information is more important than the token itself,
Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury gives us elves that can make mana, artifact/enchantment destruction and card draw, all of which fit seamlessly into the deck.
Arlinn Kord
doesn't fit quite as cleanly as Freyalise, but I believe that all the abilities on the front and backside fit the deck well enough that they are all good.
Maskwood Nexus makes all of our creatures and creature tokens both the creature types we care about while also having the ability to make shapeshifters, which we can put to good use
Halo Fountain has multiple niche uses, using it as pseudo vigilance on an attacking creature, generating more tokens that we can use in various ways, drawing cards or even being a possible win con.
Howling Moon gives a not unappreciated stat buff before combat and punishes opponents for trying to advance their own game plans
Finally, covering what I believe is the most important part of the deck that isn't immediately obvious. Haste and/or Riot. Riot gives us so much combat pressure on our opponents while also giving us the option to build our board up in the case that we don't have a good attack. Rhythm of the Wild giving us that dual option as well as counter protection is massive, just the simple ability of Concordant Crossroads and Fires of Yavimaya to give all of our creatures haste is incredibly important when it comes to our elves being able to make mana or our board swinging in to end the game. And the cherry on top of all of that is Uncivil Unrest. Giving our nontoken creatures riot advances our gameplan immensely and doubling our damage on every attacking creature is probably our best game closing card unless you want to add in Triumph of the Hordes or Craterhoof Behemoth. If I need to build my board I might tutor for Doubling Season or Court of Garenbrig/Cathars' Crusade using Moon-Blessed Cleric, but if I want to end the game, I'm grabbing Uncivil Unrest every single time, without question.
So, that's my overview of the deck. I welcome all suggestions and love to have longer discussions about card choices and thought processes in the comments, so always let me know your thoughts about anything and everything.
And, as always, give it a +1 if you liked the deck or the primer so this can reach more people across the site and I can refine the deck as I get more and more feedback.
Love Y'all, -Alexiya
